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How to Whiten Teeth in Lightroom

Adobe Lightroom provides photographers with easy photo editing options that also feel familiar to students of classic photography. This allows for a more consistent application of photo editing techniques that look natural and feel familiar, and the program’s focus also provides front-and-center planning for the tools photographers use most. This complements Photoshop well by allowing the latter program to focus on digital image manipulation, much the same way Illustrator allows for graphic creation in a more intuitive way than Photoshop’s composition options allow.

Among the many different common edits people can easily accomplish with Lightroom is the whitening of teeth. Along with redeye removal and shadow enhancement, it’s one of the edits that makes a huge difference, even for candid family snapshots. There are a couple ways to change the lighting and other effects, but let’s walk through a basic solution for how to whiten teeth in Lightroom.

Step by Step Whitening

Start by fixing the white balance, the overall balance of color and light in the photo, to optimize its overall appearance.

Next, select the brush menu, and from the drop-down, select Whiten Teeth. This will open the Perfect Portrait Brush set for you.

The two brushes available in the presets are for whitening gray and whitening yellow. Select the one you need.

Use the flow slider to adjust the amount of whitening in various directions until you get the results you want from the brush. This lets you compensate for different levels of change needed across different photos.

Make sure you resize the brush to use it in just the area where you need to make the changes.

This is all you need to know to accomplish basic teeth whitening on your photos. Of course, you can go further if you build custom brushes that are based on these basics. That’s a different tutorial, though, as the custom brush sets require a bit of setup of their own to design. If you do decide to build one, you will want to use the information about your ideal settings for the teeth whitening brush to inform your plans for building your custom brush, but you will also have the opportunity to create brushes that are shaped perfectly for your needs.

Finding Great Stock Images for Your Projects

Mastering how to whiten teeth in Lightroom will empower your projects and allow you to edit the photos you find in stock image collections like the one on Shutterstock. Most stock photos are already optimized, but when you need to enhance a smile, the steps are the same as when you use Lightroom for your original pictures, so don’t be afraid to make the tweaks you need on each image.